Letters, April 1: Lessons from the history of immigration

April 1, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

1 of 1

NOGALES, AZ - MARCH 08: U.S. Border Patrol ranch liaison John "Cody" Jackson (R) and cattle rancher Dan Bell ride through Bell's ZZ Cattle Ranch at the U.S.-Mexico border on March 8, 2013 in Nogales, Arizona. Agent Jackson meets regularly with local ranchers to coordinate the agency's efforts on border issues, including drug smuggling and illegal immigration from Mexico. Bell, a third generation rancher, grazes cattle on nearly ten miles of border property. Nogales, Mexico is seen on the far side of the border fence. (John Moore, Getty Images) JOHN MOORE, GETTY IMAGES

NOGALES, AZ - MARCH 08: U.S. Border Patrol ranch liaison John "Cody" Jackson (R) and cattle rancher Dan Bell ride through Bell's ZZ Cattle Ranch at the U.S.-Mexico border on March 8, 2013 in Nogales, Arizona. Agent Jackson meets regularly with local ranchers to coordinate the agency's efforts on border issues, including drug smuggling and illegal immigration from Mexico. Bell, a third generation rancher, grazes cattle on nearly ten miles of border property. Nogales, Mexico is seen on the far side of the border fence. (John Moore, Getty Images) JOHN MOORE, GETTY IMAGES

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Barry Wasserman: Much said been said about illegal immigration from both sides of the debate ["Give us an immigration plan that works," Letters, March 31]. It has become a watershed for both rational and irrational feelings.

NOGALES, AZ - MARCH 08: U.S. Border Patrol ranch liaison John "Cody" Jackson (R) and cattle rancher Dan Bell ride through Bell's ZZ Cattle Ranch at the U.S.-Mexico border on March 8, 2013 in Nogales, Arizona. Agent Jackson meets regularly with local ranchers to coordinate the agency's efforts on border issues, including drug smuggling and illegal immigration from Mexico. Bell, a third generation rancher, grazes cattle on nearly ten miles of border property. Nogales, Mexico is seen on the far side of the border fence. (John Moore, Getty Images)

The immigrants of the 1920s did not have the government support as the immigrants of today do. They immigrants of yesterday were ostracized, banned from most neighborhoods, terribly discriminated against, utterly poor, and couldn't speak the language. They mostly came from Europe – with a bulk from Ireland and Italy. Many came with only the clothes they wore and lived in the ghettoes with their own kind.

Without education they took inferior, hard and dangerous work that the non-immigrant majority would not do. There was little in terms of government handouts or welfare. There was no running into hospitals when giving birth to gain access to good health care paid for by the tax dollars. Moreover, immigrants were discriminated against and resented by the majority. The Ku Klux Klan became the arm and spokesman of the bigots to harass immigrants, at times with significant portions of the country in agreement.

The liberalization of society and government today has had drastic effects on society. Emma Lazarus' patently American credo, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," never implied that we should provide support, welfare, medical care and schooling for the masses, some things that never were, but now have become, entitlements that contribute to the cataclysmic closings of hospitals and defaults on many cities across the nation.

Our government is headed down a negative path. The federal government continues printing funny money as if it had value at all. This country cannot continue on this downward spiral and maintain to be number one.

Logic of civil unions

GARDEN GROVE, Paul Ogle: Elise Power's letter in support of gay marriage she reminds us that legal marriage between man and woman that cannot produce children ["Supporting gay marriage," March 24]. She argued that defining marriage for those who are able to procreate denies marriage to those who are infertile, elderly or choose to adopt.

This is such complete exaggeration of the facts. Whether a man and a woman marry to have a family or not have a family has nothing to do with marriage. It's a biological fact that in order to bear children it requires a man and a woman. If you read Webster's definition of marriage it is defined as the union between a man and a woman. Even in our day to day lives, such as in the world of plumbing and electronics, the use of a marriage is defined as a male and female in use of fittings.

I believe we should look at the reason why gays feel they are being singled out. It's because they are not privileged to enjoy the same rights of married couples. We should not desecrate the sanctity of marriage to provide this benefit for gays. If gays want to live together, then it makes more sense to provide for civil unions of two people.

Traditional marriage is what it is. Don't try and force a square peg in a round hole. If any couple wants to form a civil union, then we should provide and avenue for this to happen and quit trying to destroy what has been in place since the beginning of time.

Definition of marriage

SANTA ANA, Bonnie Compton Hanson: Why should receiving valid state and federal benefits depend on so-called "gay rights"? Instead of insisting that health insurance, death benefits, hospital visitation privileges, owning property, inheritances, tax purposes, and all the rest can only be granted to those living together, and rather than changing the definition of marriage that has survived thousands of years so far, why not create a whole new all-inclusive official family category for legal purposes?

These "Registered Family Units" (or a similar official name) should include married couples with or without children at home, same-sex civil unions, grandparents raising their grandchildren, children caring for elderly parents, siblings living together, convents, monasteries, couples or individuals with adopted children and the like – as long as at least one of the family unit is of legal age. These families would need to be registered, just as marriages are. However, they would not include as single family units large cultic communities, assisted living homes, college dorms, fraternity houses, corporations and so on.

Yes, let's make right current injustices and treat all people with courtesy, respect, and fairness. However, that does not mean we must change either our nation's definition of marriage—or God's!

Porn panders to perverts

ANAHEIM, Len Beckman: Joseph Perkins' piece on pornography is most timely ["Porn not a harmless vice," Columns, March 22].

A couple decades ago, you would usually have to look for the "adult" titles at Blockbuster. Blockbuster is gone and kids can pull it up all day and night off the Internet. Before Blockbuster, seedy, slimy old men had to find an adult bookstore when Playboy and Penthouse didn't suffice. But, it's the advent of media – ads and the Internet – which has now made porn at the ready everywhere you go in this hyper-sexualized culture.

Perkins makes a solid case that "pornography is not the harmless vice its defenders suggest." Carl's Jr. is a case in point of corporate America's continued silent profiteering. They started with an advertisement of Paris Hilton at the car wash while eating a burger. Porn, as usual, gets regressively and aggressively degrading of women. Just this Lent, corporate execs moved to stripping Nina Agdal, barely out of her teens.

Unfortuately, this isn't Carl Karcher's Carl's Jr. anymore – certainly not with those at the top today, insulated from their actions. Management is telling families you aren't our favored over the 18 to 35 male demographic – more a subspecies of the animal kingdom than manly men.

Violence is an automatic byproduct of porn. Porn kills the spirit, destroys the soul and ruins the bodies of so many women. It also hurts the men who fall into the trap. I had a friend who started with porn a few years ago. Next, he moved to prostitutes and gambling. Finally, though most didn't know the reason why, he killed himself in desperation. Porn is demonic.

Women are the most precious, complex creations in the universe, destined for great things rather than to be used and abused by little corporate men trying to play Hollywood.

Corrupted politics

BREA, James Clifford Preston: The No. 1 issue facing the United States and California is political corruption – even more than the debts suffered at state and national levels of each, which are substantially caused by political corruption in the first place. With single party rule the corruption will become worse between the public employee unions and the Democrat politicians who desire their monetary money support. However, the Athenians, who gave us the institution of democracy, gave us the only political system ever invented to clear up all the political corruption. The vote. We must vote out the corrupt bums at every level of government.

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Letters to the Editor: E-mail to letters@ocregister.com.
Please provide your name, city and telephone number (telephone numbers will not be published).
Letters of about 200 words or videos of 30-seconds
each will be given preference. Letters will be edited for length, grammar and clarity.

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.